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BIOHAZARD 1.5
(Rejected BIOHAZARD/Resident Evil sequel)

For Leon S. Kennedy from the prime universe / canon games, see Leon Scott Kennedy.

Leon S. Kennedy was a Raccoon City police officer who was caught up in the 1998 viral outbreak in Raccoon City.

Biography[]

Leon S. Kennedy is Italian-American, having emigrated to America from Italy at some point in his life.[3] He also has a pet bloodhound.[3][Excerpt 1] Leon is a rookie police officer at the Raccoon City Police Department, working under his superior officer, Roy, and the chief of police, Brian Irons.[4][5] Another of Leon's colleagues is an officer named Marvin.[4]

Raccoon City Outbreak[]

"Oh that's just freaking great! Now what am I gonna do?!"
— Leon [6]
See also: BIOHAZARD 1.5/plot

Following the events of the Umbrella incident in the Arklay Mountains, a leak from an Umbrella facility within Raccoon City had caused a t-Virus (Clay virus ε-strain) outbreak.[7]

Only a few days after Leon began his position at the R.P.D., Raccoon City had been consumed by death.[8] In a matter of time, the precinct was overflowing with zombies.[8][9] Leon and his fellow surviving officers had barricaded themselves on the third floor of the precinct, where Chief Irons' office is located.[8][9] After witnessing a helicopter crash from the rooftop of the precinct, Leon speaks with the Chief who insists that he focus on his own survival.[10][11][12][Excerpt 2] Leon realizes that his only hope for survival is to brave the hordes of zombies below and to venture out on his own.[Excerpt 3]

Leon finds an Umbrella researcher, Ada Wong, who was wounded and trapped in a crashed and burning police van in Outside B (外B SOTO B?); he saves her with the fire extinguisher and takes her to where he can repair her injuries.

Leon later sees Sherry Birkin crawl down a drain from the vehicle workshop ("CHIKA CYUU B") in the garage basement.

In the next room, an underground parking lot ("CHIKA CYUU A"), Leon finds Ada on her own and scolds her for leaving Marvin. She explains that she heard a noise and left Marvin to go investigate. The noise is revealed to have come from a crashed Umbrella van, and two gorilla B.O.W.s break out. Leon calls Ada to hide in a patrol car as he fights them.

Later, The trio decide to escape through the sewers, they climb down the sewers and after a brief discussion Ada runs forward and is followed by Marvin.[6]

While exploring the sewers, Leon narrowly escapes a torrent of running water and encounters various mutations on the way.

After losing track of Ada, Leon and Marvin exit into the Factory compound's SITE A (敷地A SHIKICHI A?), where they find the entire remaining police force - the large investigation team assigned to the factory - has been killed in a battle. Heading into a Warehouse (倉庫 SOUKO?), Leon fights the mutated William Birkin, who was recently knocked out by Elza. The three take the elevator down to the lab, and Marvin gets injured by William in the process. Ada and Leon take Marvin to the GUARDHOUSE to recover. There, she reveals that she is in fact an Umbrella researcher, but tells Leon he doesn't have time to worry about that; Marvin is at risk of dying if not treated immediately. Ada conscripts Leon to reactivate the lab's power and take the delicate vial of the viral strain to a machine which will create an appropriate vaccine. When he has cured Marvin, Ada will wait for the two of them in the shelters below, though makes no guarantee they will survive down there.

Leon would fight a further mutated William in the labs who impales a man-spider and then throws it during a scene. Leon would fight an even further mutated William once again in the train power room and in the Umbrella train, Ada being with Leon at the time.

Appearance[]

Leon has stylish auburn hair and brown eyes.[13] In his early casual appearance, Leon wears a blue, white, and black jacket with a back design and a black shirt underneath.[5] He wears two necklaces—one with a pendant made out of sheep bone and one with a miniature replica of Mjölnir.[14] He also wears blue jeans, a belt with a round single hook buckle and a knife sheath attached at the back, and black and white boots.[5][14][Note 2]

In Leon's main design, he wears his R.P.D. uniform which consists of an all blue shirt and pants, with a lighter blue undershirt. He wears armor on his shoulders, chest, and back and elbow pads. His knife is strapped to his right leg. He wears gray boots and black gloves. Over the course of the outbreak, Leon also wears a red R.P.D. tactical vest and white U.S.S. upper body armor, both with an additional pair of knee pads. As Leon takes damage, his appearance diminishes and he begins to appear bloody and disheveled.

Development[]

In the earliest known production stages of BIOHAZARD 1.5, the protagonist was a young man named "Grant Bitman" (グラント・ビットマン guranto bittoman?).[15][Note 3] Once development of the game began, the character was renamed to "Leon S. Kennedy" (レオン・S・ケネディ reon S kenedi?).[15][Note 4] At this stage, Leon had a shorter hairstyle and two outfits: a more casual appearance with a white T-shirt that displayed the R.P.D.'s emblem on each sleeve, a shoulder holster, a pair of blue jeans, black tactical gloves, and black leather boots; and an R.P.D. uniform concept with a short-sleeved white undershirt, a blue button-up shirt, a black tactical vest, blue pants, a thigh strap, black tactical boots, and black tactical gloves. The latter served as the basis for Leon's final design.

In the first builds of 1.5, several placeholder sounds from Resident Evil were used for the game. This included character sounds for Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, which were assigned to Leon and Elza respectively. By December 1996, voice acting for the characters and title calling had begun and was being implemented in-game.[16][Note 5] Paul Haddad, Leon's actor in the final build of Resident Evil 2, has stated that he worked on an earlier version of the game.[17][Excerpt 4] Whether this was for BIOHAZARD 1.5 or an earlier build of the final Resident Evil 2 is undetermined.

Further Notes[]

  • In the final build of Resident Evil 2, Leon was redeveloped into the canon as Leon Scott Kennedy. His role is largely similar, but his appearance, backstory, and place within the main plot have changed.

Gallery[]

Concept/promotional art[]

Gameplay images[]

Miscellaneous[]

Sources[]

Excerpts
  1. Excerpt from CAPCOM design WORKS, page 27:
    (Designer's comment: レオンは僕のなかではイタリア系移民のアメリカ人で飼っている犬はブラッドハウンドという設定でした。?)
  2. Excerpt from the BIOHAZARD 1.5 (November 1996 build), Speaking with Chief Irons cutscene:
    (私はら大丈夫だ
    今は自分の安全をかんがえろ
    ?)
  3. Excerpt from The PlayStation, Issue 35 (Sep. 1996), p.49
    (街の治安の要である警察署も例外ではない。署内はゾンビせあふれ、わずかな生き残りが、署内最上階の一室にたてこもっていた。そして、現状を打破すべく、署内に足を踏み出した男がいた…。

    街の中央に位置するラクーン・ポリス・デパートメント。ここもゾンビの襲撃を受け、既に警察としての機能を失っていた。玄関、待合室、死体安置室……室の所でゾンビの集団があふれかえる中、勇敢にも彼らに立ち向かう一人の男の姿があった。それてまた、この恐ろしい署内をー人の女性か訪れようとしている……。
    ?)
  4. Excerpt from Resident Evil Fan's interview with Paul Haddad:
    "Before the final version of Resident Evil 2 was released, there was an earlier version which was different. This version also had Leon and the voice acting seemed to be complete. Was this also done by you and then you were called back, or did you only do the version of Leon we got in the final game?
    I did do an earlier version of the game. I was then asked back, I believe a few months later to record additional dialogue. I have truly forgotten what changes we made. Fans of the game know so much more than us actors. How you find all these details is amazing to me. I wish I had a manager with those skills!''"
Notes
  1. The voice acting for Chris Redfield from the first Resident Evil was used for Leon until late-1996 when the new voice acting was implemented.
  2. The artwork of Leon's jacket in Resident Evil Archives and the Resident Evil 2 (PC/Dreamcast) Gallery identifies the parts of his necklaces as "sheep bone" (羊の骨 hitsuji no hone?) and "Thor's Hammer" (トールハンマー tōruhanmā?). He also has a "one-point buckle" (ワンポイント バックル wanpointo bakkuru?) identified on his belt.
  3. While his name cannot be seen due to the quality of the footage, the interviewer appears to say "Grant Bitman" (グラント・ビットマン guranto bittoman?).
  4. The earliest known build of 1.5--the "Lobby" build--was showcased in publications at the time with the name "Leon" being used. In addition, Hiroyuki Kobayashi is quick to correct the GameCenter CX interviewer on the original name, implying that "Grant" was changed early on.
  5. The earliest instance that can be found of voice acting being added to the game is the footage on the CFC STYLE '96 VHS tape. It features functional battle grunts and the final title calling (which was kept for the final build of Resident Evil 2).
References
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 BIOHAZARD 1.5, finalized character selection screen.
  2. Resident Evil Archives, Main Character Comparison Image, p.218
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 CAPCOM design WORKS, Chapter 01, BIOHAZARD 2 (Initial Artwork), p.27
  4. 4.0 4.1 Resident Evil Archives, p.220
  5. 6.0 6.1 Biohazard Complete Disc Footage
  6. Inside of BIO-HAZARD, p.42-44
  7. 8.0 8.1 8.2 The PlayStation, Issue 35 (September 1996), PS PREVIEW - BIOHAZARD 2, p.48.
  8. 9.0 9.1 The PlayStation, Issue 35 (September 1996), PS PREVIEW - BIOHAZARD 2, p.49.
  9. 神谷英樹 Hideki Kamiya (1 March 2014). Tweet Number 439787228265320448. Twitter. Retrieved on 22 December 2015. “The former. RT @citchmook of the game, when he's standing on the heli-pad. Was it because a helicopter crashed? or did he see Elza crash into the station.”
  10. BIOHAZARD 1.5 (November 1996 build), Leon's opening cutscene.
  11. BIOHAZARD 1.5 (November 1996 build), Speaking with Chief Irons cutscene (Leon only).
  12. BIOHAZARD 1.5 (November 1996 build), Leon's character textures.
  13. 14.0 14.1 Resident Evil Archives, Casual Clothing and Other Costume Design Drafts, p.208
  14. 15.0 15.1 Youtube.com, GameCenter CX interview with Hiroyuki Kobayashi
  15. CFC STYLE '96 December, Video vol. 3.
  16. Residentevilfan.com, REFANB Interview: Paul Haddad, A.K.A. Leon Kennedy
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